My blog is to share what I have learned after nearly 50 years as a psychologist and a minister. To leave comments, click on the capitalized heading of the post and at the end, click on "Post a Comment" or you can also click on the word "comments" below each post.

Underlying concepts

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Sunday, October 5, 2008

The following is from an interview of Archbishop Peter Akinola of the history of why he has been selected to be the reluctant spiritual leader of the new worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Archbishop: "First of all, in the Christian Association of Nigeria - which brings together all our Christian people, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal - my colleagues elected me president for four years. So, I had to play the fatherly role thoughI was much youngerthan many of the other elders, because they looked up to me for leadership and guidance.

At the regional level we have the Council of Anglican Provinces ofAfrica - we have 12 primates in Africa, like Dr Rowan inEngland is Primate of All England. And the very first time I attendedtheir meeting, they elected me their chairman. So, again, a hugeresponsibility. Each of my colleagues has his own sovereign church,and yet they call me 'Baba', they call me 'chairman'. I have to workvery hard to ensure that we achieve whatever we want to achieve byconsensus. So, we discuss as gentlemen, as elders, as fellow fathers.

Beyond Africa is what is called 'the Global South' [a grouping of the 20 of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces that are in the southern hemisphere]. Again, my colleagues chose me to be their chairman.

Whatever they saw in me, I don't know. So, the same principle, allthe way. You have to bear in mind that each primate, each bishop isan authority in his own right, with his own jurisdiction, and for him to submit to your leadership he must be given due respect. And so you consult with him, you share with him, you don't dictate to him and so you achieve results.

I've applied the same principle to Gafcon [the Global Anglican FutureConference], and this afternoon its Primates' Council made me theirchairman.